I was excited on the morning of our writer's workshop celebration, and after all of the preparation our class had done, I was sure it was going to be lots of fun and a sure success. After greeting the parents, everyone settled into their chairs and I talked to them a bit about how the writer's workshop actually works and about all of the effort that goes into the students' personal narratives and nonfiction pages. The students and parents were then divided into groups to view their child's work. I was very happy to see the pride in each face as the children shared their work!

I was going to go to a fishing restaurant with my friend, Rami. I thought to myself that it was exciting to be able to go fishing with my friend. The car ride over seemed long, but finally we arrived.

I first started playing with my friend at the playground. After we played, I asked my mom, “Can I go fish?” She said, “ask your dad.” I asked my dad, he said, “yes,” and went to a man to ask for some fishing rods. At first, when I was fishing, there was no fish, then my friend tried, he caught a fish. I tried again, no fish. I tried one more time, and I caught a fish. I felt excited because the man let me cut the rope off of the fish’s mouth. The fish was kind of big, about the size of my hand. Then my friend asked his dad if he could fish for one more fish and his dad said, “one more fish.” “OK,” said my friend. So he fished for one more fish, then when he got a fish, a man fried it for us. Now I tasted the fish…and it was soooooooo yummy!!!!

After lunch, it was time to go home. I asked my mom, “Can we stay a bit longer?” My mom said it was time to go. I said, “OK.” And we left for home.

I was in Italy. I was in Gardaland. It was summer and Gardaland was a really colorful place. There were so many different colors all over the place. For example….blue, green, yellow, pink, fuchsia pink, aqua blue, orange, purple, red, and much, much more. I was amazed.

My dad, my brother, Ramsey and I were waiting in line of the Raptor Roller Coaster. My mom was waiting outside because she does not like high roller coasters. It was our turn to ride the Raptor roller coaster with other people. We went to our seats of the roller coaster. I was sitting next to my dad, and my brother Ramsey was sitting behind us with another person. We fastened our seatbelts. “Are you ready?” My dad asked, “I am,” I answered bravely. “Three...! Two....! One...!” A voice called from the microphone. After the voice, it instantly went like lightening! We went up and up. Suddenly, we raced down the hill. “AAAAAhhhh!!!!” We all screamed except for my brother, Ramsey. We twirled into a circle. We went zig and zag. It was like riding on a dragon’s back! The ride was done. “Wow!” I cried.

“That was amazing!” I shouted with happiness. My mom asked, “Was it?” I replied, “it was fantastic!” It was the best roller coaster I ever rode! I thought.

I went home from school and I ate lunch. Then we got the plane ticket and we went to the airport. The man checked our passport and then he said, “OK, you can go,” and we went to the plane.

We sat down in our seats and I said, “How many hours does it take?” and Mom said, “three hours.” Then I played on the Ipad, then I asked again, “in how many more hours, will we reach Dubai?” Mom said, “Not hours, but minutes.” “How many more minutes?” I said. She said, “ten minutes are left.” I said, “Yay!!” Then she said to me, “play on the Ipad and I said, “it doesn’t have any battery left. We need to charge it and she said, “then play on the Iphone, so I took it out of my bag and I played on it for five minutes and then I put it in my backpack and I colored in my coloring book. Mom said that I am an artist and I said, “why am I an artist?” and she said, “because you color so neat!”

I asked my dad “how is mommy going to come with the fish?” My dad answered “she will do it.” We arrived to Crepaway. “At last!” I shouted in my mind. I realized that my mom wasn’t going to come. I got my crep. “Yum!” I shouted in my head. I saw the yummy crep on my plate. The crep had chocolate on top. I ate my crep all. I noticed some motor bikes behind us and the people behind us had small children and one of them climbed over to our side. The child looked like a baby. My dad said “hi” to the kid. The kid climbed back to his mom and dad. I thought that the kid was happy when he was back with his mom and dad. My dad asked, “can I have the bill?” By the time the bill came, I finished my crep. My dad paid the bill. I told my dad, “I liked today’s lunch.” We reached home. I told my mom and brother about Crepaway.

Connor and I decided that we would have a play date every Wednesday. Wednesday was finally here and Connor came over. We were trying to decided what to play. I said, “what do you feel like playing?” We voted for Lego or Nerf and the majority was for Nerf.

We played Nerf. When we were playing Nerf, Connor and I went to hide in the bathroom…but Connor said, “are you sure your brother is not gonna find us?” I was thinking that my brother would find us in a flash. Then suddenly, my brother jumped out of nowhere and…we screamed, “aaaahhhhh!” and he shot us!! Then we ran again into another bathroom to hide… My brother jumped again, “oh!” I said, “it’s mom.” Then Connor and I got in trouble because my mom doesn’t let us play in the bathroom. Mom said, “no more Nerf! You don’t deserve to play when you are screaming and shouting!” I was feeling said that we could not play Nerf anymore, and I said, “Oh, man.”

I was a little scared when we went to the piano lessons. It was at the Galaxy mall and the room was so freezing. The teacher for my piano lessons had long hair and a dress that had flowers. The room had one piano in it with lots of piano books on shelves.

First, we learned the notes on the piano and there were eight notes that you repeat and they are: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, and do. I told her all of the notes and without any help! “We need to introduce ourselves,” I said to the teacher. “My name is Sarah and this is my sister, Lynn.” Second, we learned the happy birthday song and I did it perfectly the first time! Then it was time to go home, and I went and I told my teacher, “bye.”

We went out of the Galaxy Mall. When I went home, I practiced all of the things that the teacher gave me for my homework.

When Omar came to my house, I was happy. When we went to play soccer, I was in the lead, but Omar caught up. Then Omar won the game. I said, “Oh brother!” Then we went to eat pasta. The pasta was so good that I wanted to eat all of the pasta that I have at home. Then we went to play X Box 360. It was the best electronic game I ever had. I asked Omar if he was good at the game, and he said, “Yes.” Then when the game loaded, I was team Manchester City. Omar was Manchester United. I was in the lead, but Omar caught up but then I won.

“Hey Omar, do you want to play Nerf?” I said. Omar said, “Yes.” Then we went to play Nerf. The objective of the game was trying to hit Omar. I felt happy because I like playing Nerf a lot and I liked playing it with my friend. When the game started, I was trying to hit Omar, but Omar blocked the shot, then I had an idea. I shot it up high and it hit Omar. He said, “ow!” I said, “sorry, Omar.” “It’s okay!” We ended the game when we used all of the bullets up.

Omar went home even though I wanted him to stay. I felt a bit sad that he left.

I was at Euro Disney. We chose to go on a ride called the Hollywood Tower of Terror. We got to the front pretty quick because there were two of the same rides. We went in some kind of room. They told us something, but I was not listening. Some guy came in and put on our seatbelts. He told us what we are not allowed to do, but I was not listening. My stomach had a knot in it. It was dark. I wanted to leave, but it was too late. I was shivering. “Do you like this?” I asked my mom. A-a-are you scared?” We asked each other. “V-v-veryyyy,” I gulped. I felt my mommy’s arm wigging. She was shivering. Three minutes later, we thought the ride was over. “Finally,” said my mom. “A-a-a,” said my brother, Ali, who was dressed like a geek. “Aaaaarrrr!” I screamed. “Why are we screaming?” asked my mom, “the ride is not moving!” “oh, I know, I’m screaming from that hideous shirt Ali is wearing!” I said. “Stop it!” said my mom. “Yeah,” said Ali. “Fine,” I said.” I’m really scared,” I said to my mom. “Why did you come?” mom asked. “Because I like to do stuff,” I answered. “Are we stuck?” I asked. I started crying and my mom kissed me and hugged me and said it would be fine. Then the ride moved. “Aaaaaaaaaah!” I screamed. Now I am sure it is over!” Said my mom. “Yes it is” I said.

One day in Dubai, I was running in my cousin’s house and I fell on a glass table, and I shouted, “Mom, I have blood!” Everyone ran to me to take me to the hospital.

Good thing the hospital was close. I thought I wasn’t going to survive. I was screaming, “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” I could see my insides and blood everywhere. There was blood all over the car and on my aunt’s hand.

My hand and leg were opened, but then the doctor came. He came and saw me, he said, “You are doing a great job!” I saw him get thread to stitch the cut and get a knife to scrape the glass away. My aunt was crying. I was thinking of nice things like puppies and dogs hanging on little teacups and inside little socks to take my mind off the pain and what was happening. My brother was holding my other hand and I was biting it. He was asking me what I wanted to do when the stitches were done. I told him, “There is no time for that now.” The doctor finished stitching my hand and I was shivering because I was scared. When it was over, I had to take medicine and it was disgusting. I spat it out and said, “ew, disgusting!” The doctor finished stitching my hand and leg closed and they wrapped a cast for my arm and they put a bandage for my leg. I felt relaxed when it was over, but my pajama was all covered with blood.

I got ready to go to Adam’s birthday party. I was excited and happy to go. I got all dressed up, brushed my hair, and brushed my teeth. I told my mom, “I’m so excited!” Mom said, “OK, let’s go!”

When I went to Adam’s birthday party, I said, “hi” to my friends, Adam, Omar, and Rawad. Then we played on the Playstation 3. We ate chicken nuggets, salad, and French fries. Then suddenly, we opened the presents. All of us gave presents to Adam. He opened them all and he was happy. He told everyone, “thank you!” Daniel came and saw the toys. He said, “let me play, let me play!” We told him, “No because it is Adam’s birthday,” but he threw the presents in the air and broke them. I said, “stop throwing the presents. They are Adam’s toys, not yours!” Then he looked at Adam’s private stuff! Finally Daniel’s mother came to pick him up and everyone was mad at him.

As soon as Daniel left, we made decision not to invite him again. “That party was not nice with Daniel,” I said to my mom. Me and my mom rushed back home to rest in peace.

One day my family and I went to Euro Disney and we went straight to the Space Coaster and at the start, it was dark and it looked like we were in space. The lights were colorful. They were red, blue, green, yellow, and pink. It was amazing and where we sat was in a rocket ship. Also the lights were really bright and shiny. There were twists and turns and I said, “This is so cool.” “It’s not cool, it’s amazing,” said my brothers. “Dad, do you like it?” I said, “of course, if you like it, I like it,” said my dad. Then the sun popped up, then Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter. The lights looked as yellow as the sun and Mars was as red as fire. I actually thought we were in space. “No, it’s just a pop up,” said my Dad. “Were you scared?” asked my dad. “A little,” I said. “Well, don’t be scared, it is supposed to be fun.” Said my dad. “You’re right, Dad.” Then big rocks came and they were grey and they were huge. At the end, the stars came and there were zillions of them and they were bright and shiny. It got colder and colder and then there were aliens and they spoke funny and they were green. They had ten eyes and five antennas and I was laughing so hard I cried. The aliens were in a nightclub getting drinks and smoothies. The sign was flashing out red and blue, then the alien put a potion on another and he had seventy-five eyes and then everything was funny and finally it stopped. It was the best roller coaster ever! Then I woke up and it was a dream.

One day, we were going on a trip to Faraya to ski. At first, I didn’t know how but I knew that I was going to learn how to ski with a monitor. It was freezing in the mountains. I was wearing a suit particularly made for skiing. The snow was as white as a blank white paper. “The snow is beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked myself.

After training with the monitor, I skied by myself. I got to the top of the hill, and I saw my aunt. She shouted, “hi,” then I answered back. I was excited that I was going to ski by myself for the first time. I started going down the hill, and I was feeling the wind like it was striking my face. I was happy for myself because this was my first time skiing. I fell down. I tried to get up, and it took me five minutes to get up. I felt less excited when I was down in the snow. My monitor saw me. “Did you fall down? Did you hurt yourself?” he asked. “I’m ok,” I said. I continued going down and saw my mom. I asked her, “isn’t the snow beautiful, Mom?” She replied, “Yes.” I skied back down. I was finally done with my run.

After that, I skied for a few more hours until I finished with my last run. I was sad that the fun day of skiing was over.

One summer evening in Washington, D.C., my mom was watching the news. I was eating a lovely waffle. “How is that waffle?” my mom said. “Great” I said. “Good,” my mom said. Then my brother knocked on the door. “Hi guys” “Hi Elie” we said. Suddenly my mom gasped. “What is the matter?” I said. There is a terrifying hurricane coming our way.” My cheeks looked like a clown’s nose. I was very scared. I started crying! My brother told me it will be alright. But I said, “How can it be alright? There is a hurricane coming!” I said to myself, “it is not going to that bad, Grace!” Not that bad, not that bad! “Are you crazy, Elie?” I’m saying that it is not that bad as the other countries. “You should be thankful!” he said. “You’re right, I’m so sorry.” I said. I went under the hotel bed so I could protected. It felt so good under! Suddenly my brother went under the bed and said, “I love you, Grace, and I always will.” He hugged me while he was saying this. I told him the same and he took it well. I’m glad that he took it well.

Then he told me something I will remember forever: “I love you more!”

Now the hurricane was over and stopped by Subway, and as usual I ordered ham and cheese please! Then we left and went back to Michigan.

In Faraya, we were swimming, having races, jumping, and playing. We were tired so we wanted to go to our cabin to rest. But we didn’t find our nannies! My friend said, “But they have the card to our cabin! What are we going to do?” I said, “I have a plan. Let’s look for them.”

We searched and searched. We went to the entrance of the gym. “where are they?” I asked Jawad. “I don’t know,” he replied. We then went to the towel stand to look for them. I was worried and said to myself that they have the card and how were we going to enter the room? We found them next to the entrance door. I told my friend, “they are over there!” I was happy, but tired when we found them. We said to our nannies, “Where were you?” They said, “We were in the park.” “Oh,” I said to my friend. We didn’t search everywhere because the entrance door is next to the park.”

Then we took our nannies and we went to our cabin and rested on the bed. I said to my friend, “we had a long day!”

When I went to Build a Bear with my cousin, I went to get a bear so I stuffed it and I picked clothes and shoes. I dressed in the clothes so I said to my cousin, “Let us go out for a minute.” We came back and we did not find our bears. I said, “I don’t know where my bear is!” I began to look around the store to find the bear. I looked under the chairs and table, but they were not there. I saw the pants, t-shirts, skirts, and shoes of the bears, but not my bear. Then I saw my brother with the bear. I started to chase him and shouted, “Give me my bear!” He said, “If you can catch me, I will give you back your bear!” My mom saw him and asked him, “why are you holding your sister’s bear?” My brother told her, “I’m just playing with her.” He was not playing with me though. I thought he is teasing me. “Come on, Maurice!” I said, “you are making me mad!” Maurice said, “I don’t care, you don’t scare me, but you have to give me back my bear!” When my cousin came back from outside, she asked me, “where is your bear?” I told her, “with Maurice. He snatched them from me.” My cousin and my brother started fighting with each other until my mom came and said, “why are you fighting?” My brother finally gave the bear back to my cousin and they stopped fighting. I finished dressing my bear. I told my brother, “thank you for giving me back my bear!”

When I went to school, I saw everybody lined up for PE, and then I lined up too.

When I went to PE, Coach Rani was doing a lot of jokes with Jad and Lilia. He does even more jokes with Lilia. He gives her a shower and sprays her with the water bottle, picks her up with her legs, and he makes her fetch her shoes. I was happy that day in PE because Coach Rani said, “You can all have free time today with the first graders!” I said to myself,” I’m so happy to have free time today!” I went to play tether ball and I won the game I played with Jad. When he hit the ball, he hit it the wrong way around, and then I hit it the wrong way around and finally it wrapped around the pole. I said, “Whoooweeee! I won!” “Next time we will play again,” said Jad.

In the morning, I wore my pajamas. Mom said, “We aren’t going anywhere.” Then the phone rang, and it was one of my cousins. She said her two brothers, and her aunt were coming over and mom agreed. Then after a very long time, the doorbell rang, and mom answered it.

Mom opened the door. “They’re in their pajamas already!” said my aunt to my mom approvingly. “No, they were in their pajamas all day,” laughed my mom, happily. My aunt laughed too! “Wow.” My mom said, “What’s so ‘wow’ about it?” And my mom and aunt laughed again. We said, “Hi” to our cousins, and we all went to the kitchen, so my mom could make dinner.

This is the way my best friend Nico almost drowned. We were all kayaking and then Nico let out a scream, “help!” The he said, “the blue kayak is sinking” When I heard that scream for help, I started to shake like a bottle on the ground during an earthquake. In the distance he looked like a small speck on the water. Then I grabbed a kayak and paddled toward him, and told him to grab the blue kayak and hold onto it. Then I paddled as hard as I could to shore. Brown water was dripping from Nico’s hair and green stuff was hanging from his arms and legs then I told, “let’s go get cleaned up.” After that Nico started to cry. I told him it was alright and that accidents happen. He stopped crying then we all had dinner and went to bed. The next day we found the blue kayak. I said, “What a relief we didn’t lose it. We would have had to pay one hundred dollars!

I like to play sports. My mom said, “Let’s go play soccer.” I said, “I want to play soccer with my brothers", so she took me and my brother at 4:00 to play soccer. We divided ourselves. We were an odd number, so my big brother was alone and my brother and I played. My big brother is 20 years old and my other brother is 12.

We started playing on the big, green soccer field. Smash! My brother fell. “Ouch!” he said. I thought he is going to be ok, so I kicked the ball to my other brother and he scored! I was excited when he scored and I gave him a high five. My other brother said we were better than him at soccer so we raced because we wanted to play something else. My 12 year old brother won. We also played tag.

We went home so I told my cousins, “We scored!” I ate, crunch, crunch!

“Mom, is it lunch?” I asked my mom when my mom, my cousin, and I went hiking. We stopped next to a pond to have lunch. When I finished, my dad gave me my knife.

While I skinned a stick for my cousin, I cut my finger! It bled. The chilly wind blew my tears away. I thought that I would never see my finger again. When I opened my eyes, I had a napkin on my finger. I said, “Can we go home?” so I got up and I walked all the way to the parking lot. I didn’t use my knife again until it got better.